Elisabeth ThieriotDocumentary FinancierSues Site for Defamation

5/14/2012 4:00 PM PDT

Documentary Financier Sues TheWrap.com for Defamation

EXCLUSIVE

The financier behind a documentary filming in Mexico is suing TheWrap.com for publishing an article saying she stole footage from her own film and fled the country in violation of a government order ... none of which she claims is true.

According to a lawsuit filed today in L.A. Superior Court by legal eagle Larry Stein, Elisabeth Thieriot was the subject of an article on TheWrap.com on May 9 that accused her of the aforementioned wrongdoings (plus filming on government land w/o authorization).

In the lawsuit, Thieriot says the allegations are completely false and the site should have known they were false ... but published the story anyway.

Thieriot claims the entire story was based on lies from the film's producer, Raul Julia-Levy. In the papers, Thieriot says she is the victim of Julia-Levy's fraud in an attempt to "hijack a very important film project."

Thieriot also claims TheWrap ignored Julia-Levy's history of making false statements to the police and in legal filings -- most notably the fact that he claims to be the son of Raul Julia ... something Julia's widow previously denied.

She is suing for damages in excess of $1,000,000. Attempts to contact Julia-Levy were unsuccessful.

A rep for TheWrap tells TMZ, "We aren't commenting until we have a chance to discuss it with our lawyers."